This invention relates to the fields of computer systems and networks. More particularly, a method and apparatus are provided for interfacing a computer system or other device to an Ethernet network at a high rate of data transfer.
Computer systems have evolved from objects of interest mainly for hobbyists and professionals into essential tools of a large portion of the population. Along with the increase both in number and capability of computer systems, the need to communicate between them also continues to grow. From early use in sharing peripheral equipment and carrying electronic mail to their use in today's distributed applications and client/server architectures, networks for carrying computer communications have rapidly evolved in size and scope.
One particular network architecture, Ethernet, has remained predominant in many computing environments even while network transmission rates have increased exponentially. While a communication rate of 10 Mbps was once the mark of a fast Ethernet local area network (LAN), today one can obtain and install an Ethernet network 100 times as fast (i.e., 1 Gbps). In particular, the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.3 standard specifies, in detail, the accepted data link protocols for such a network.
Just as there was clear need for today's fast networks, there is no doubt that networks capable of even faster transmission rates will be readily implemented when available. One can be certain that new computer systems and applications, as well as those that currently communicate over 1 Gbps (and slower) networks, will make meaningful use of networks operating at multiple Gbps rates. Some types of operations that will likely welcome the higher bandwidth include multi-media, database, modeling, and other areas that require or generate large amounts of data.
For example, computer system “clusters” and other highly interconnected computer systems will greatly benefit from faster communication rates. In particular, because computations and operations in such a cluster are often shared or distributed among multiple end nodes, their desire for rapid network communications may be limited only by their internal operating rates (e.g., the rate at which a cluster member's CPU communicates with internal memory). Since communications transiting these types of networks are often conducted at high-priority system levels (e.g., rather than at relatively low-priority user levels), the faster the communications can be conveyed, the more time the systems will have to devote to user activities.
An application operating with a network other than a cluster or a LAN, such as a MAN (Metropolitan Area Network), WAN (Wide Area Network) or RAN (Regional Area Network), may also benefit from an increased transmission rate. In these types of networks, however, applications communicate over much longer distances than, for example, applications in a computer cluster.
Thus, there is a need for a network architecture capable of operating at transmission rates above 1 Gbps. In particular, there is a need for means with which to interface a computer system or other network entity to a network such that the interface can pass network traffic at a rate exceeding 1 Gbps. Because of the plethora of networks and network components that utilize the Ethernet protocol, and the familiarity that this technology enjoys among programmers, developers and designers, it would be very advantageous to implement such a network using Ethernet. An Ethernet network interface operating above 1 Gbps would preferably be compatible with most, if not all, preexisting Ethernet implementations. The interface would, preferably, be suitable for environments such as computer clusters, which may operate over short distances, as well as networks that operate over greater, even regional, distances.